@BustOfPallas TRT Log 11/24

I got my first shipment of meds and supplies from Defy yesterday morning and immediately went up to the bathroom and mixed up my HCG and took my injections and AI.

What a difference a day makes. I didn’t really feel anything yesterday but today I am starting to feel the effects a little. A little more energy and initiative. I don’t know, maybe it’s my imagination but I’m a little cranky and if I’m being honest I kind of like it. I’m feeling better today than yesterday for sure and am thinking I may feel even better tomorrow.

I was going to let my last thread be my “log/journal” but I think it makes sense to start a proper thread to chart my progress.

I took the day before Thanksgiving off and set up a 20 foot “mega-tree” (Christmas light tree I designed/created). I took me all day in near freezing temps and I was a mess on Thanksgiving still and a little yesterday. One of the reasons I sought out this therapy is that I noticed it got dramatically harder for me to do routine home maintenance around 3 years ago. I’m only 52 but felt like I was not recovering well from a day of yard work, exercise etc… and I like to exercise.

So that’s where I am right now. I’ll note my observations or post questions here.

Sorry for creating another thread but I think in it’s appropriate.

Here is my protocol.

-Testosterone Cyp 200 mg/ml –inject 0.35 ml IM/SQ twice weekly (25G, 5/8” needle/ (1cc syringe Luer only)

-HCG 500 iu inject SQ twice weekly to reverse/prevent testicular atrophy

-Anastrozole 0.125mg twice weekly – h/o elevated E2, titrate on follow-up

-DHEA 25 mg at bedtime

-Vitamin D3 5000 iu daily

-Fish oil 3-4 g daily for HDL support

F/U in 3 months with full labs with IGF- 1, FT3

It might have been too early to take the AI without any symptoms and estrogen may not be a problem for at least couple of weeks. I’m high body fat and didn’t get high estrogen symptoms until 4-5 weeks. If you start to feel jittery, shaky, racing mind, estrogen would likely be low or crashed.

It seems a lot of men are anastrozole over-responders even on tiny doses. If fertility is of no concern removing the HCG from your protocol can simplify the dialing in process. I’m also a Defy patient and am very happy with them, Dr. Saya is very knowledgeable as are all the other midlevel practitioners.

It will take 6 weeks for your testosterone and estrogen levels to reach stable plasma levels, it may take longer than 6 weeks to be able to judge how this protocol is making you feel and 6-12 months to see major changes provided your levels are in an optimal range for you specifically.

I seem to feel better on an 20mg EOD or 8-10mg everyday protocol do to SHBG (22) on the lower end. If my Total T levels drops from 496 → 417, Free T decreases 6.1 pg/mL (20.8->14.7) which has big consequences for me.

Dosing isn’t linear, once you reach a threshold, levels can sore upwards quickly and get out of control. The difference between 20mg EOD (496) and 25mg EOD for me is 1053 ng/dL on only an increase of +20mg.

Imagine what happened to estrogen.

Recap your protocol in your first thread here. Easier to follow

How long would it take on an AI for this to occur? I dosed Friday morning and then Monday morning.

I hear you on the over-responder thing. I am a poor CYP2D6 metabolizer so I understand that we react differently to drugs depending on a number of things, our genes for instance. Codeine does not work for me because I genetically lack the enzyme activity to break it down into morphine. 10% of Europeans share this trait.

I just wanted to update this to let everyone know I am feeling fantastic. I started freehand exercises and dumbells doing Tabata high intensity intervals. I had done this 5 years ago and gotten fantastic results but in the last 5 years it stopped working. It’s like my body stopped responding to exercise. I am going to take advantage of being on T to get a ripped as possible. My energy, confidence and libido are definitely up. I’ve got one solid week of a very clean and nutritious keto diet under my belt and I’m hoping the rubber fat suit I’ve been wearing on my torso will finally go away. I’m 216 and want to get down to 204. I think I could lose 15 to 20 lbs but I want to add muscle too. I’ll keep you guys posted. All is good.